Mediaeval church with frescoes of long-lasting legacy - Boyana Church 42; Bulgarian Chitalishte (Community Cultural Centre): practical experience in safeguarding the vitality of the Intangible Cultural Heritage 00969
What and Why
The Boyana Church (Bulgarian: Боянска Църква, Boyanska Tsărkva) is a mediaeval Orthodox church built in the 10th century CE located in the Boyana district, apparently the most well-off area of Sofia (София, Sofiya). The church is famous for its extremely elaborate and beautiful frescoes inside the church that depict the usual biblical stories and Bulgarian cultures all the way back in the 13th century CE.
The church is one of the most complete and perfectly preserved mediaeval Eastern Orthodox monuments in Europe. The church offers valuable insight into the architectural and religious developments during the Bulgarian Empire (Ц︢рьство блъгарское, Balgarsko Tsarstvo), reflecting the historical period's dynamics and the cultural exchange between Byzantine and Slavic traditions. It is thus a critical site for understanding the development of mediaeval art and architecture in the region.
Toponymy
Sofia comes from the Greek word 'σοφία (sophia)' meaning 'wisdom'. The name is taken from the Saint Sofia Church (Църква Света София, Tsyrkva Sveta Sofia), the oldest church in Bulgaria (България, Bŭlgariya), dating back to the 4th century CE.
Boyana is likely to derive from the Slavic personal name Боян (Boyan), meaning 'warrior'.
See
Boyana Church (Боянска Църква)
The much revered church was built in three stages: in the late 10th century CE, the mid-13th century CE, and the mid-19th century CE. The oldest section (the eastern church) is a small one-apse cross-vaulted church with inbuilt cruciform supports. The is the beige colour section on the main picture.
The second section, which adjoins the eastern church, is the reddish colour section of the church and consists of a ground-floor family tomb with a semi-cylindrical vault. The exterior is decorated with ceramic ornaments. This section is commissioned by the nobleman Sebastocrator (Greek: Σεβαστοκράτωρ) Kaloyan Asen (Калоян Асен).
The last section is built along side the second section. As a protection measure, air-conditioning was installed to keep the temperature at 18 °C, with low-heat lighting. Groups of up to only eight visitors are permitted to stay for 10 minutes and no photography of any kind is allowed.
There are at least two layers of frescoes in the interior of the church, which is the sole reason why this church is inscribed as UNESCO WHS. These frescoes are celebrated for their remarkable realism, expressiveness, and intricate detail, representing a significant departure from the more rigid and formal Byzantine style. In particular, the frescoes depict over 240 human figures, including a detailed portrait of Bulgarian Tsar (Цар) Constantine Asen (Константин Асен), making them one of the earliest examples of portraiture in European art.
According to the guide, the first layer was painted during the construction of the first stage in the 10th century CE, but only fragments are restored in the lower part of the apse.
The second layer from the 13th century CE forms the core of all the frescoes visible to the public and represent one of the most complete and well-preserved monuments of mediaeval art in the Balkans. Those frescoes were painted over the earlier layer by a team of unknown artists from Turnovo Art School (Търновската Художествена Школа, Tŭrnovskata Khudozhestvena Shkola). Clearly these frescoes depict biblical stories and in particular stories of Saint Nicholas (Greek: Άγιος Νικόλαος, Ágios Nikólaos), patron of the church. Other depicted with prominence at the narthex are Kaloyan and Saint Ivan of Rila (Свети Иван Рилски, Sveti Ivan Rilski) of the blogged Rila (Рила) fame.
All the frescoes are described as being executed with precision, extraordinary skill and feeling. These drawings show the extraordinary skill and culture of Bulgarians during the 13th century CE. Recall similar frescoes in our blogged Müstair.
Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (Храм-паметник Свети Александър Невски)
The Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (Храм-паметник Свети Александър Невски, Hram-pametnik Sveti Aleksandar Nevski) is a reasonably modern Orthodox cathedral in Sofia, and is one of the largest cathedrals in the world. Built during the late 19th century CE, the church is now regarded as the main landmark of Sofia nowadays.
Alexander Nevsky (Russian: Александр Невский, Aleksandr Nevskiy) was a highly regarded statesman of Kievan Rus' (Old Slavic: Роусь, Rusĭ), who also served as the Prince of the republic of Novgorod (Russian: Новгород), but his main contribution was his effort in preserving the Russian statehood and Russian Orthodoxy (Russian: Русская Православная Церковь, Russkaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov') and was hence canonised as saint in the 16th century CE.
The neo-Byzantine cathedral is a cross-domed basilica featuring an emphasised central dome, adjacent to a number of dome clusters. The central dome has the Lord's Prayer (Latin: Pater Noster) inscribed around it, with thin gold letters. The massive and beautiful interior of the cathedral reminds one of the most famous churches in Hagia Sophia (Turkish: Ayasofia) of Istanbul (İstanbul), although recently it has been turned into a mosque.
On the left of the entrance to the cathedral, there is a small opening that leads to the crypt, which houses an impressive collection of Bulgarian icons, dating back to the 5th century CE.
Central Mineral Baths (Централна Mинерална Баня)
It never occurs to me that Sofia is famous for its thermal baths. Turns out that public baths have existed in Sofia since at least the 16th century CE. The Central Mineral Baths (Централна Mинерална Баня, Tsentralna Mineralna Banya) is a landmark built in the early 20th century CE near the now destroyed former Turkish bath (Turkish: hamam). The building was used as the city's public baths until 1980s CE and is now converted as the history museum of the city.
National Assembly (Народно Събрание)
As in many other countries, the central parliament is usually a major tourist spot for visit and the Bulgarian National Parliament (Народно Събрание, Narodno Sabranie) is no difference. The above shows a change of guard outside the parliamentary building during the hour.
Chitalishte (Читалище)
During this ambassadorial work, we visited a kind of community centre called a chitalishte (читалище). A chitalishte is the Bulgarian version of a community school where it serves as a community centre, library, discussion group forum and a theatre, in a way similar to folk school in Europe. The word itself, with the stem 'чета-' literally means 'to read' and points to a small library, but it has evolved in Bulgaria as the communal learning space for cultural development.
This practice started in the mid-19th century CE during a time when it was felt that cultural enrichment and education was prime for fostering societal development, and are currently registered as non-governmental organisations under the Ministry of Culture (Министерство на Културата, Ministerstvo na Kulturata). Chitalishta used to, and still does, play a crucial role in preserving and developing Bulgarian culture, practices and literacy and thus played an important role during the last two centuries especially in fostering a communal sense amongst Bulgarians. It has however dropped in importance due to more systematic education policies and sadly reduction in fundings. It is now enlisted as an ICH with the aim of continuing the practice.
We visited this one, called Iskra 1964 (Искра 1964г).
Buy and Do
Squat shops (Клек)
One type of remarkable Bulgarian shops is perhaps the squat shops (клек, klek), which are tiny shops located at knee-height with a small window to sell snacks or small grocery items.
These were apparently the first private businesses formed during the collapse of communism back in the early 1990s CE, and this was done to convert the basement or bunker to a shy little shop through a small window. This trend has continued since and become a special feature of Bulgaria! Notice that Bulgarians have to kneel or bow to get a drink!
Eat and Drink
Bulgarian cuisine (Българска кухня)
Bulgarian cuisines (Българска кухня, Bŭlgarska kukhnya) are much influenced by Turkish cuisine (Turkish: Türk mutfağı) as the entire Balkans was occupied by the Ottoman Empire (Arabic: دولت عثمانيه, Devlet-i ʿOsmānīye) until the early 20th century CE. From our one or two meals, it suggests that Bulgarian food often incorporates lots of dairy products, stews and a variety of soups.
We had an amazing dinner in Hadjidraganovite Kashti (Хаджидрагановите Kъщи), a traditional Bulgarian restaurant along one of Sofia's main streets. The decor is old-style Bulgarian and the food is hearty and very good. More importantly every night it provides some kind of cultural performance, as video shown above.
Getting There and Around
The entrance fee to Boyana Church is BGN 10 Лв. Sofia is not a big touristy city and two days would be good for visit of the city.
UNESCO Inscription
Located on the outskirts of Sofia, Boyana Church consists of three buildings. The eastern church was built in the 10th century, then enlarged at the beginning of the 13th century by Sebastocrator Kaloyan, who ordered a second two storey building to be erected next to it. The frescoes in this second church, painted in 1259, make it one of the most important collections of medieval paintings. The ensemble is completed by a third church, built at the beginning of the 19th century. This site is one of the most complete and perfectly preserved monuments of east European medieval art.
Bulgarian chitalishta (cultural community centres) are uniformly distributed across the whole territory of Bulgaria. They are established by communities themselves and are open to everyone irrespective of age, gender, political and religious views. The first chitalishta were established in 1856, and they have been recognized as a key organizational unit of Bulgarian society ever since. In accordance with the Chitalishta Act of 1996, chitalishta are non-governmental self-regulatory organizations. By law, they perform cultural and educational activities aimed at safeguarding the customs and traditions of Bulgarian people, ensuring access to information, distributing knowledge and familiarizing citizens with the values and achievements of science, arts and culture. Chitalishta are central to the process of transmitting intangible cultural heritage in the country, with elderly members playing a key role in encouraging young people to get involved. The efficiency of chitalishte is demonstrated by their increasing numbers over the years and the growing numbers of participants in their activities, representing all ages and population groups. With a view to popularizing and presenting intangible cultural heritage, chitalishta organize festivals, celebrations, gatherings, exhibitions and so on, and one innovative approach for developing chitalishta is the establishment of local centres for documenting, archiving and handing over knowledge and skills.
References
Comments